Posted on 06/26/2008 8:54:34 AM PDT by CarrotAndStick
Japan's second most dubiously famous technological predilection (behind panty-vending machines) is its highfalutin' toilets, which warm, wash, blow dry and deodorize your bum, just to cover the basics. Japan is also well regarded for taking the lead on going green—average energy consumption per person is half ours. Tragically, the Japanese desire for a pampered and squeaky clean butthole is killing that ethos—and the planet.
Super-deluxe-awesome-o toilets are always on, constantly sipping power—they now make up four percent of household energy consumption, more than dishwashers or clothes dryers. And they're in 68 percent of homes. One expert says it's the Japanese equivalent of the slightly suicidal American love of the Hummer, except that sales of quasi-mecha toilets aren't slowing down. (Probably because 23 to 30 percent of Japanese men apparently sit down to pee. So inefficient.) How serious is the problem? Tricked out commodes might knock Japan out of meeting its Kyoto Protocol goals, even as the government demands more efficiency out of manufacturers.
Toto, for its part—besides cutting energy usage of its toilets in half—has come up with a smart toilet that learns everybody's pooping schedules and warms up just prior to your usual pit stop, so it only powers on when it needs to, rather than staying armed and ready all the time. Technology really can solve all our problems, even the ones it creates.
(Excerpt) Read more at gizmodo.com ...
I'll take "phrases you never thought you'd see in print for $1000, Alex..."
Whatever you do, don’t press the red button.
The one marked “ATR”?
The Japanese have panty vending machines? Thats just crazy talk right there....
OMG I love those toilets. The hygiene value alone is worth the energy.
It took me a few minutes with one of those to make sure I pushed the right button to make it flush rather than accidentally triggering the car wash features.
it’s a water fountain too? wow
Screw the planet. Those things are great.
Of course, the very act of speaking the phrase has caused a fetish to come into existence, with at least one Web site and newsgroup.
And the very best models double as Karaoke machines.
Toilets in Japan tend to one of two extremes.
A minority of them (thankfully) are the old “$*it slit” sort, a horizontal little bowling alley over which you squat — no seat! — and do your business. Most of these are rather old.
Most toilets, particularly those a Western visitor would encounter, are shaped like, well, American toilets, but have more bells and whistles than Captain Kirk’s chair.
Come to think of it, I remember reading that one Japanese toilet company HAS MADE a special “Captain Kirk’s chair” toilet. Green alien babe not included.
Just the thing you want the morning after a feast of screamingly hot Thai food. Trust me on this.
The control panel, however...let's just say it was a little intimidating. You're sitting there with yer bare butt hanging over some fiendish oriental mechanism that you hope to God wasn't designed by anyone remembering WWII or who thought MechaGodzilla was a documentary...
I think this is a manifestation of insanity.
My Father-in-law described a toilet facility set up on a transport ship he was on during the Korean war. It was a long trough with wooden planking covering it, with holes in it at intervals. The trough had sea water pumped continuously through it, which was then dumped over the side. Once he accidentally dropped his hat in the hole he was using. He had to run down a line of seated soldiers/sailors until he found an unused opening so he could retrieve it before it was deposited overboard. Of course, it had passed under the butts of half a dozen men by then...
Bidets are great. A lot of people in this country think they’re just for Europeans to use after sex (as if!) but they have a lot of other applications as well. They’re excellent to wash after using the toilet, for ladies at certain times of the month, for everyone during a digestive upset. I actually prefer the budget model with the warm-water sprayer because I don’t really like transferring to another fixture. The down side of the budget model is that you can’t really use it for anything except washing your underside.
Good luck with that Thai food.
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